Bit of Fun
by AnnieF1229
Summary: Draco's encounter with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the woods outside the Quidditch World Cup.


Some of this is taken directly from pages 121-123 of Goblet of Fire.

He couldn't help it. The scene that was playing out at the campsite was rather exciting. People were screaming, but he didn't see the big fuss. No one was getting _hurt_; the Muggles were just floating above the ground, perfectly safe. Okay, he admitted, if his tent had been blasted out of the way it would have caused him to yell indignantly, but everyone was acting like they were being attacked.

His father had always told him that when large groups of wizards got together like this that hi-jinx were likely to ensue. Draco had grown up listening to the stories of his father and his friends when they came over to the Manor. They'd let him listen when they talked about playing harmless pranks on Muggles-exploding toilets and slipping Dark objects into Muggle shops had always sounded like such a laugh. He'd sit at the table and listen intently to their stories, but eventually his father would announce that it was bedtime and Draco would be made to leave the room.

One time, when he was probably nine or ten, he snuck back downstairs when he was supposed to be asleep and listened at the door to the parlor. His father and his friends were no longer laughing, but they were still telling stories. Draco pressed his ear against the ajar door, not wanting to miss a word, as he heard Theodore Nott's father recount a time when he had set a Muggle's house on fire with a flick of his wand and watched as it burned. Draco had peeked through the crack in the door and saw him smile as he finished with, "and when they tried to run out the front door all it took was a 'Colloportus' and there was no escape"

Draco had stood with his mouth slightly agape before turning to run up the stairs. He jumped into his bed and lay awake thinking about what he'd heard. He tried to picture the Muggle family, but not knowing anything about how Muggles lived, he ended up seeing his own family trapped inside Malfoy Manor as it burned. He replayed the image over and over again and finally ended up drifting into a restless sleep as the sun started to peek through his curtains.

He thought back on that story now as he watched the Muggle woman turned upside down so that her knickers were showing. This was just a bit of fun, he convinced himself. This was like the exploding toilets and the wailing teapots who spouted hot water on their owners.

His attention was brought back to the woods when he heard an exclamation of pain followed by someone saying "Lumos." Potter, Weasley, and Granger were standing quite close to him on the path leading into the woods. The Weasel had just explained that he tripped over a tree root.

"Well, with feet that size, hard not to," said Draco in a drawling voice. They turned and noticed him watching the scene at the campsite through a gap in the trees.

"Language, Weasley," said Draco, as the red head told him to fuck off. His eyes swept over the trio and landed on Granger standing in her nightgown and cardigan, wand lit and pointed towards the path. It was strange enough seeing people out of their normal robes, but looking at Granger's nightgown he couldn't help comparing her to the Muggle woman who kept trying to cover herself in midair.

"Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't liker _her_ spotted, would you," he sniped. He nodded at Hermione, and at the same moment, a blast like a bomb sounded from the campsite, and a flash of green light momentarily lit the trees around them. The group was getting closer. He glanced back through the trees momentarily before turning back to the others.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Granger, a look of defiance on her face. Her eyes narrowed as she asked and for a moment he thought that she might slap him again like she had the previous year.

"Granger, they're after _Muggles_," he told her. "D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around...they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh." He could see flashes of green just over the treetops and could hear the Ministry officials calling out to the men in masks, pleading them to leave the Muggles alone.

"Hermione's a witch," Potter snarled.

"Have it your own way, Potter" I replied. The chaos was creeping closer and closer to the woods and it no longer seemed like just a bit of fun. He could hear people crying and could just make out the terrified expression on the face of the young Muggle boy as he spun like a top. "If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are." He said the word knowing that it would cause an uproar and its effect was instantaneous.

"You watch your mouth!" shouted Ron.

"Never mind, Ron," said Granger quickly. She grabbed the Weasel's arm as he took a step toward me.

There was another bang and more people in the woods screamed, but I just chuckled softly trying to seem nonchalant. I decided to taunt them about their daddy telling them to run away into the woods, hoping that they'd remember that's what they were supposed to be doing, and Potter got all flustered and asked if my parents were out there wearing masks. I smiled at Potter and replied that I wouldn't tell them either way, would I?

"Oh come on," Granger finally said, with a disgusted look directed at me, "let's go find the others."

As they walked away I couldn't stop myself from calling out "keep that big bushy head down, Granger".

They didn't turn back and I was glad of it. What had started out as me being able to finally experience some of the fun that my father always looked back on with fondness had turned into something much different when I had seen Granger standing there in her nightgown and slippers. I knew, obviously, that she wasn't a Muggle but I also knew that my father had heard all about her beating me in most of our classes. He hadn't responded too fondly when I had informed him that I was ranked second in our year, behind a Muggleborn girl, and given the chance I'm sure he would have loved to torment her in some way. Granger and I aren't friends, but that didn't mean I wanted her to become the subject of my father's torment.

I took one final look back at the campsite, but decided that I should start following the fleeing crowd into the woods. I'd had enough _fun_ for a lifetime.


End file.
